LUCKNOW/GANDHINAGAR: When Amitbhai Anilchandra Shah was appointed as the general secretary in charge of delivering Uttar Pradesh for BJP, leaders in the state wondered what was in store. After all, Narendra Modi was sending his Man Friday.

Now, after delivering UP for Modi, Shah is gearing up for a wider national role, though the man remains tight-lipped about what that role is. For now, he has moved into an apartment in Delhi's tony Jangpura area, paying a rent of Rs 38,000.

A student of biochemistry, Shah started out by dabbling in the stock market before trying his hand at the family business of PVC pipe making.

Born into a well-established business family in 1964, Shah was drawn to RSS as a boy and his association with Modi goes back to 1980s. Both joined BJP around the same time.

It was Narendra Modi who convinced then Gujarat CM Keshubhai Patel to appoint Shah chairman of Gujarat State Finance Corporation in 1995. From the strength of that strategic post Shah kept a vigil on the Gujarat BJP for his mentor while Modi was banished from the state a few years later as part of a peace deal between rebel Shankarsinh Vaghela and the BJP high command.

But his time came in 2002, when Modi won a thumping victory in the Gujarat assembly polls. Shah was given charge of as many as 10 portfolios including home, law and justice, prison, border security, housing and parliamentary affairs.

It was not only in floor management where Shah excelled, his skills soon saw BJP expanding its foot print into sports bodies and the cooperative sector.

At the same time, Shah kept winning elections with big margins. It was Shah's shrewd micro management that saw the Gujarat Cricket Association (GCA) coming BJP sway, after being under the iron grip of then Congress strongman Narhari Amin.

Shah not only tilted the balance of power within GCA to get Modi elected as president, but eventually got Amin to join BJP ahead of the 2012 Assembly elections in Gujarat. Amin is all praise for Shah.

"He is an exceptionally hardworking and focused man," Amin said. "Once he takes up something, he does not even bother about his own health to accomplish that. You have seen how he has turned BJP around in UP."

Crucial to Modi's plan in UP were two things at the organisational level and two at the Lok Sabha candidate selection level.

Shah first weeded out fake members. He also relied heavily upon RSS workers for his mission. As soon as the elections approached he made several RSS pracharaks the palak of each constituency.

In fact, zonal in-charges too comprised largely of RSS workers. It was felt by Shah that RSS workers who have no electoral ambition of their own would give proper feedback as palaks of each constituency. RSS joint secretary Krishna Gopal and co-organisation secretary Sunil Bansal looked after this strategy, apart from handling other duties.

Party insiders said it was Shah's idea to field Modi from UP and he had Varanasi in mind from the beginning.

Shah's acumen lies primarily in identifying fault lines and working at them tirelessly to turn them into advantages, said a Gujarat BJP member. "Once he decides on achieving something, he will stop at nothing."

"He is an extraordinarily hardworking fellow with remarkable skills for political strategising," said Gujarat BJP treasurer and veteran BJP leader Surendra Patel.

Shah's rise has not been without its share of controversy and blots. He was booked in the Sorahbuddin Sheikh murder case and was put behind bars besides being restrained from entering Gujarat by the Supreme Court.

However, the soft spoken Shah never lost his composure, at least in public. "It is all a part of a political conspiracy and that does not worry me much," Shah said in 2012. If landing behind bars was the lowest point in Shah's career so far, he has certainly bounced back with a vengeance.